Interfaith Dialogue

Abhishek Mehrotra

The other caveat to remember is that Akbar may not always have been inspired by noble impulses. There is no doubt that his liberal, secular credentials have been embellished down the centuries – his interest in the Sanskritic literary traditions may have partially stemmed from the idea that this would help him in enlisting the support of the political elite who were key to expanding as well as maintaining his empire. The same political instinct may have convinced him to appoint Hindu Brahmans to key positions in his administration....

Tabish Khair

Tabish Khair

The statements “Hinduism is an inclusive, tolerant religion” and “Islam is a religion of peace” contain much truth — but this truth has to be regularly vindicated by action. There seems to be an increasing failure to do so on the part of many Hindus and Muslims. Each one of us has to face up to this failure. Every time we use such words, we need to ask ourselves: do we really mean it, and does the evidence around us sustain such claims? We have to ask ourselves: are we using these words as ideals or as excuses?....

Johari Yap

For example, non-Muslims may relate Islam with terrorism especially in the midst of terror attacks by radicalised groups like Daesh or ISIS; while Muslims may associate Buddhism with the persecution against Myanmar’s ethnic minority, Rohingya. Such stereotypical views occur when there is lack of knowledge and understanding, and without any effort to sought new information. As a result, some individuals tend to blindly believe what is published by the media without having any real understanding of the actual situation....

Joanna Moorhead

Joanna Moorhead

The Catholic church has many strengths, including in its humanitarian work – after all, it has representatives across the planet, and for all the bad apples we’ve become increasingly aware of, there are many good men and women working tirelessly to improve the living conditions of people who live in challenged situations. But it has weaknesses too, including the fact that its leader, while he might look like a world peacemaker, must look out first and foremost for his own people. And that, it seems, is what has had to happen here....

Prof. Paul Heck

Prof. Paul Heck

There are a lot of forces in the world that want us Muslims and Christians to see each other as enemies. This makes it important for us, along with our Jewish brothers and sisters, to think deeply about what it means to live together as believers who aim to love and please God....

Patrick Burnett

Ambassador Akbar Ahmed

If we are to save our societies, we must all make a stronger effort to reach out in friendship and open our minds to learning about the other. Until every Muslim girl can enter her classroom without fear of her hijab being torn away and every Jewish student can go to school without fear of having swastikas drawn on their arms, we will have to keep pushing forward....

Robert Azzi

Robert Azzi

Stendahl challenges us to be open to recognizing elements in other religions—even those that may appear foreign or threatening—and to consider how we might wish to support, embrace, emulate or further explore those elements that might help us to deepen our understanding of our own religious traditions and more deeply connect to others: to embrace ‘holy envy.’...

Dhirendra Sharma, New Age Islam

IF the Muslims claim that Islam means Peace, the Hindu chauvinists think that all the social Evils were due to Arab-Islamic invasions of India. Otherwise India was Heavenly abode ( Devbhumi)of the pious Souls, devoid of all evils, chanting Om Shanti, Om Shanti ,had flourished on the banks of Ganga-Jamuna during the pre-Islamic Golden Age ( Sat-Yuga.) For 5000 years during the pre-Islamic world order during the Sat-Yuga when Lord Ram and Lord Krishna ruled the society, there were sectarian and tribal civil wars just as the Arabic-Islamic civil wars and social violence…..

Haroon Khalid

Haroon Khalid

This is what Nanak wanted, humans irrespective of their religion, caste or creed, sitting together, sharing food. Any place where that became possible would become the home of god, the pathway to divinity – Gurudwara. In Pakistan, where there are now only a handful of functional Sikh Gurdwaras, this becomes possible only at Kartarpur Sahib. Muslims at all the other Gurdwaras have been disallowed because of security reasons. ....

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

Nor has genuine Islam anything to do with Sayfullo Saipov's terrorist ideology. God proclaims to Muslims, "I have made you a moderate people (ummatan wasatan)" (Quran 2:143). The Prophet himself warns against extremist religiosity. But is anyone who needs to hear this listening? All Muslims need to know, but especially those tempted by terrorism, that America is already a deeply religious country in ways that Islam unequivocally affirms....

Akbar Ahmed

Akbar Ahmed

I could not but think of the wisdom of the founder of his faith, Guru Nanak, who famously said, “Those that have loved are those that have found God.” While Pakistan has somewhat of a reputation as encouraging religious intolerance, in fact, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, which I visited not long ago, is in Nankana Sahib, Pakistan, and I can report that it is spotlessly clean and tended with special reverence and affection by the local administration.....

Haroon Khalid

Haroon Khalid

Masih is the Arabic word for messiah, a title reserved for Jesus Christ. It is a word the Christian community uses today for its self-identification in Pakistan. However, it is not the word Muslims use for the Christian community – they use Isaai, followers of Prophet Isa, the name for Jesus in the Quran. While Isaai is now popularly recognised as the word for Christians in Pakistan, it is not a title the Christians necessarily associate with. However, power relationships between the two communities have forced this identification upon them, despite their reluctance. This is similar to Muslims being referred to as Mohammadens.....

Leonard Hammer

Leonard Hammer

Some of the open-ended issues that remain after the 2015 agreement with the Palestinians are just as important as the agreement itself. Unmentioned in the agreement is the matter of conversion from Islam to Christianity, an act punishable by death by Islam. Will the PA tolerate conversion to Christianity? What if there is an Islamist shift in the PA's governmental composition, a rather realistic possibility given the rise of Hamas and other Islamist groups? Is proselytism to be tolerated?....

Shalini Gupta

A few days ago,
I stepped into a cab that was waiting outside my house. The domestic worker
handed me the things I needed and in her customary way bid farewell to me by
saying, “Allah Hafiz, Didi!” I reciprocated by saying the same. As I shut the
car’s door, I sensed the cab driver’s body language stiffening....

Somok Roy

The tradition
of Chhappan Thal, which perhaps has its roots in the contemporaneous Krishna
Bhakti practices of Braj, became a part of the Mughal cuisine. Sweets like Ghevar,
Peda, Jalebi, Phirni, Kheel and Falooda were characteristic of the Diwali
air. The Mughal Dastarkhwan was laden with the choicest of dishes, just
like in Nauroz. The Mughal Diwali or Jashn-e-Charaghan was extensively recorded
in court Muraqqas under the rule of Rangile. Fanoos or lanterns were
released, and Chiraghs or lamps illuminated the urban core of Shahjahanabad....

Ruchika Sharma

Mughals
continued celebrating Diwali with feasts and fireworks. It became a part of the
cultural ethos that Mughals had developed in Hindustan. In fact, the Mughal
successor states of the 18th century too continued parts of similar ideas they
had built their empire on. Apart from the fireworks depicted in Mughal
paintings, we hear of the Akash Diya (the lamp in the sky), which was lit on a
high pole during the Jashn-e-Chiraghan (festival of lights). ....

Salwa Samir

Salwa Samir

He said that
the film showed that the “other” must be respected. “What Francis had found out
was that Muslims are not severe, but the contrary — they pray, fear God and are
merciful, as it was clear in the scene of distributing bread to the defeated
crusaders,” he said. “At the same time, the sultan saw that among the
crusaders, there was a man who called for peace and dialogue.”...

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan for New Age Islam

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, New Age Islam

The Quran tells
us: Lakum Deenukum Waliya Deen, that is, “For you your religion, for me mine.”
(109:6) It means follow one religion and respect all. Can there be a better
formula for harmonious living than this? It means that if someone thinks
differently from you, don’t try to eliminate or fight with him. Rather, you
should respect and tolerate his difference of opinion....

Suhasini Raj and Jeffrey Gettleman

The
Buddhist-Muslim divide seems to be getting sharper in this part of the world.
Neighbouring Bangladesh is struggling to absorb hundreds of thousands of Muslim
Rohingyas, an ethnic group from Myanmar, who recently fled atrocities by
Myanmar’s military and Buddhist majority....

Rabia Ahmed

Rabia Ahmed

I studied Surah
Nisa many years later. It’s a beautiful chapter of the Holy Quran which tells
you with inherent compassion and justice how one must treat women and orphans,
and how to divide an inheritance amongst heirs. I still don’t understand, even
if there was a Djinn possessing me, as to why it would leave upon hearing this
chapter.....

Sawan Singh Gogia

Sawan Singh Gogia

Guru Nanak
found these compositions of the great Sufi saint, Sheikh Farid, who flourished
3 centuries earlier, of great moral teaching and spiritual experience, and
liked them. Guru Arjan Dev made them a part of the sacred scripture, Sri Guru
Granth Sahib. Guru Nanak and other Sikh Gurus reflected on Farid's
compositions, they found some difference with him in matter of emphasis or
opinion on certain points and composed their own views in the form of Shloks,
while compiling Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Guru Arjan Dev added some of them in the
body of the Shloks of Sheikh Farid next to the concerned Shlok....

Mirza Yawar Baig

Mirza Yawar Baig

Muslims are
supposed to be 20% of the global population. This means that for every Muslim,
there are four people who are not Muslim. This means that the global image
problem, at a local level, can be defined as the opinions of four people. That
means that all that I need to do is to convince four people, that I am the best
thing that happened in their lives. Win the hearts of four people. Not more.
Just four. Convince by my behaviour, because people listen with their eyes.....

Maj Gen SPS Narang (Retd)

Almost
pleadingly, he said, “Yeh Keh Rahin Ki, Kya Aap Ke Sar Par Haath Rakh Sakti
Hain? I bowed as she blessed me with tears in her eyes. A wave of emotions
swept over me. Is it my imagination, or for real, that I often feel the
beautiful hand of a Muslim lady, wrapped in purity and love, on my head?....

Jawed Naqvi

Jawed Naqvi

“Mat Ranja
Kar Kisi Ko, Ke Apney To Eteqaad/Dil Dhaae Ke Jo Ka’aba Banaya To Kya Kiya.” Mir Taqi Mir was a devout Shia Muslim
apart from being a great poet. What was he saying here? Don’t break the hearts
of others to build your Ka’aba, a sentiment Mir had borrowed from Bulleh Shah.
The Advantages Of A Generous Spirit Are Countless....

Dr. Craig Considine

Dr. Craig Considine

At a basic
level, Muslims and Catholics are monotheists, or people who share belief in the
notion of one God. Alongside Judaism, Islam and Catholicism have their
theological and spiritual roots in Genesis, the first part of the Old Testament
which shares the story of Abraham, the founder of monotheism....